The Internet is a well-known, global network of cooperatively interconnected computer networks. The World Wide Web (“WWW” or “Web”) portion of the Internet is a collection of interconnected server computers hosting World Wide Web sites (referred to as “Web sites”) on the Internet. A Web site consists of stored electronic documents (“Web pages” or “Web content”) written in a hypertext mark-up language (“HTML”) format and containing references to numerous dependent documents. Web pages can be accessed by a computer user having a connection to the Internet. There are millions of Web sites on the Internet, providing an enormous spectrum of content, including content relating to popular television shows, specific episodes, and popular television characters, and other content desirably associated with a television program by advertisers, producers, or broadcasters (together, “related content” or “auxiliary data”).
A Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) identifies the location of a document on the Internet. For example, URLs beginning with the prefix “http://www” identify Web sites and content within the Web sites. Internet content, especially Web content, is frequently identified by URL during television programs or commercial advertisements.
Typically, individuals access the Internet from personal computers by way of software such as an Internet browser, which can be integrated with the operating system of a computer, or packaged as a separate application program. An Internet browser provides a graphical user interface to the Internet by interpreting and displaying Internet content, and supporting user navigation of the Internet.
With the advent of Internet terminals, such as those pioneered by WebTV Networks, Inc., persons without access to a personal computer are also able to access the Internet. Internet terminals work in conjunction with a standard television (“TV”) set to display Internet content. Using a user input device such as a remote control or keyboard, a user can navigate the Internet through an Internet terminal. Existing WebTV Internet terminals allow a user alternately to watch TV or browse the Internet. A user cannot simultaneously watch TV and browse the Internet. Further, no graphical user interface facilitates a user switching between watching TV and browsing the Internet for related content.
Alternative mechanisms for packaging related Internet content with a television program have been offered. These mechanisms include encoding related content into a broadcast television signal, for example the Intercast Industry Group's Intercast technology, and encoding a URL into a broadcast television signal, with Internet content subsequently downloaded from the Internet using the URL, for example systems provided by WebTV and ACTV.
The Intercast user interface allows a user to view simultaneously a television program and Internet content. The television program is displayed in a reduced format window. Related content is displayed in a separate window and browsed off-line through a navigation mechanism in a third window. The windows for displaying and navigating Internet content fill a significant portion of the available screen space. In allowing simultaneous viewing of television and Internet content, the Intercast user interface significantly reduces the television viewing space. Further, a viewer of television may find the display of related content in a separate window to be obtrusive or distracting. The Intercast user interface does not unobtrusively notify a viewer that related Internet content is available for viewing. Moreover, although a viewer desirably is allowed to switch easily between full screen viewing of television and related content, the Intercast user interface does not unobtrusively provide a graphical control panel to enable such seamless switching. In addition, the Intercast user interface does not facilitate a user desirably selecting between displaying related content of interest or displaying no related content at all.
The ACTV user interface synchronously displays a television program and timestamped related content. The television program is displayed in a reduced format window on the display screen, with the related content displayed adjacently. Alternatively, the television program and related content are displayed on separate display screens. In addition, the ACTV user interface includes on a portion of the display screen a control panel with a list of URLs that have been broadcast and received by the ACTV system. The control panel may also display URLs for which content is not synchronously displayed but is nonetheless relevant.
In the ACTV user interface, the control panel and window for displaying Internet content fill a significant portion of the available screen space. Although an alternative design with separate display screens is offered, many viewers do not have two display screens. In addition to significantly reducing the television viewing space for most viewers, the ACTV user interface does not unobtrusively notify a television viewer that related content is available for viewing, or provide an unobtrusive graphical user interface to facilitate seamless switching between full screen viewing of television and related content. Moreover, because the ACTV user interface synchronously displays Internet content, the ACTV user interface does not facilitate a user desirably selecting between displaying related content of interest or displaying no related content at all.